09 January 2005 00:00 Central Networks returns 90,000 customers to power

All 90,000 Central Networks customers across the East and West Midlands affected by the weekend’s extreme weather are expected to have their power returned by midnight tonight.

Hundreds of staff from the company worked round the clock on Saturday and Sunday to help get tens of thousands of the company’s 4.8 million customers back on power as quickly as possible.

And the company is now asking any customers who are still without power to contact them to ensure that the last few problems are solved as quickly as possible.

Customers in the East Midlands should ring 0800 056 8090 and customers in the West Midlands should ring 0800 328 1111 if they still have problems.

Bob Taylor, Managing Director of Central Networks, said: “Our staff did a magnificent job in what were very difficult circumstances over the weekend but now we need to make sure that everyone has power again.

“The high winds brought trees down into our lines, blew our poles over and threw branches and debris into the lines, causing hundreds of problems across the region and we believe that we’ve pretty much got to all of them now.

“Our number one priority is always to get people back on as quickly and as safely as we can but we just need people to call in and let us know if they still haven’t got power so our engineers can get out and get them back on.”

Central Networks will be following Ofgem’s interim arrangements, brought in after a review into the storms of October 2002, and will paying stepped compensation to any customers left without power for 48 hours or more.

In addition, anyone who believes they have suffered particular hardship should write, with full details, to:

Central Networks
PO Box 6419
Derby DE74 2WZ

Further high winds are expected tonight (SUN) and network emergency measures remain in place across Central Networks in case of further outages.

Ends

For more information contact:
Jonathan Smith on 024 7642 5741
Rebecca Middleton on 024 7642 5779
Out of hours ring 024 7642 4000 and ask to speak to the duty press officer